Summer 2015 - Cardiff School of Art and Design

SUMMER 2015 NEWSLETTER
1
SUMMER 2015 CSAD NEWSLETTER
T
he summer term has come to end with a bang! The Summer Show,
held in the new School building and unified on one campus for the
first time, has been a roaring success. A programme of activities, from an
evening event for industry partners to the weekend opening for family
and friends, saw a constant flow of visitors around the building for the
duration of the show. Comments and feedback on the show has been
incredibly positive - congratulations to all our graduating students!
Another, significant event for this School this term was the official opening
of the CSAD building. Held on 4 June, the opening included talks by David
Emanuel, the Chair of Governors Barbara Wilding, the University’s ViceChancellor Professor Antony Chapman, and Professor Gaynor Kavanagh,
Dean of CSAD.
The end of the 2014-15 academic year also marks the end of an era
for CSAD as Professor Gaynor Kavanagh will be retiring in the Autumn.
Gaynor was appointed in September 2005 after working at Bath Spa,
Southampton and Falmouth Universities, and was nineteen years with
the world renowned department of Museum Studies at the University
of Leicester. Gaynor has steered the School through a period of great
development, change and relocation. Describing, her time at CSAD,
Gaynor said “I will leave you with much sadness, but considerable
admiration for the School’s determination to succeed […] I have, indeed,
been very fortunate; this has been by far the best experience of my
career.”
Cover image: work by Samantha Emily Alland
BA Artist Designer: Maker
1
2
FOVOGRAPHY UPDATE
T
he Summer term was a busy one for the
Fovography team, which expanded to
include a full-time research assistant,
admin assistant, casual studio assistants and
consultants from a variety of fields. The Fovography
technology has developing quickly and is now
installed in CSAD’s Perceptual Experience
Laboratory and, alongside a new website, two
journal articles were published in May. The first,
co-authored by Prof Robert Pepperell and Dr
Louise Hughes has been published by the Tate
Papers.
Based on research part funded by WIRAD and the
Paul Mellon Foundation, “As Seen: Modern British
Painting and Visual Experience” uncovers how,
during the twentieth century, several important
British artists began to paint features of visual
experience rarely ever painted before. The second,
“Artworks as dichotomous objects: implications
for the scientific study of aesthetic experience”
(Frontiers in Human Neuroscience) suggests that
scientific studies of aesthetic experience should
take into account the dichotomous nature of
representational artworks.
Image: Fovography
More information http://www.fovography.com/fovograph.html
3
Research and Enterprise
PEL AND RIAS
T
he Perceptual Experience Laboratory
(PEL) has now been fully installed. During
the next phase, the team will develop the
lab’s capabilities ahead of two Research Innovation
Funded (RIA) research programmes with the
Cardiff School of Management (CSM), the Cardiff
School of Health Sciences (CSHS), and Cardiff
School of Sport (CSS).
The first RIA has been awarded to Prof Steve Gill,
Prof Robert Pepperell and Dr Gareth Loudon
to support a new PhD research project entitled:
“Thought for Food: A research-led approach to
improved Welsh food industry competitiveness”. The
project will focus on applied retail research for Food
Industry Applications, especially food branding and
packaging. It will examine whether retail research
data gained in a synthetic reality space – PEL - can
deliver robust and reliable design knowledge to give
Welsh food industry SMEs a competitive edge.
Loudon with CSM’s Tourism department and
CSS. Led by Professor Annette Pritchard with
additional input from sport psychologists Dr Stephen
Mellalieu and Dr Richard Neil, the funding will
support the employment of a research assistant to
explore workplace stress and the increasing number
of employees failing to take their full holiday
entitlement. The project will use PEL to explore the
relationship between stress and tourism experiences.
A number of external collaborations are also being
explored, and PEL was part of a successful Classic
KTP bid in 2014-15.
The second RIA is a collaboration between Prof
Steve Gill, Prof Robert Pepperell and Dr Gareth
Research and Enterprise
4
CSAD ACCELERATES!
DR WENDY KEAY-BRIGHT:
UPDATE
C
C
SAD has received Cardiff Met Accelerator
Funding for 3 projects. Richard Morris
was awarded funding to support the
development of an online shop. The shop will
be run by a student panel and chaired by an
academic member of staff, and students will pay a
small selling fee to the School for use of the ‘Shop
site’. The Accelerator funding helped to purchase
mobile camera equipment to allow students to take
professional web-ready photos of their work. The
FabLab was also awarded funding to develop a
series of workshops, specifically targeting secondary
schools’ A&D/Technology departments. Finally,
Research Assistant, Clara Watkins, will use the
funding to test the market and impact potential of
the Trauma Pack developed as part of her PhD.
FUTURE OF MUSEUM PROVISION
I
n October of last year, Professor Gaynor
Kavanagh was appointed by the Wales
Assembly Government to serve on an Expert
Panel charged with reviewing the future of local
museum provision in Wales. The report is now
complete and will be published later in the summer.
5
ongratulations to Dr Wendy KeayBright, who’s latest project Somability,
was shortlisted as one for three finalists in
the “Better outcomes through working together”
category of the 2015 Accolade Awards. Somability
is an interactive project based on Wendy’s research
using everyday technologies to develop creative,
aerobic and therapeutic opportunities for people
with profound disabilities. The Awards ceremony
took place at Cardiff City Hall on 18 June.
Wendy has also been invited to run two workshops
in Melbourne, Australia in November. The first,
“Somability: An interactive art experience for
improving self-confidence and physical fitness for
people with Physical and Intellectual Disabilities”,
is for the Australasian Society for Intellectual
Disability 50th Anniversary Conference. The
second, “Towards Inclusive Design: Using gesturebased interactive arts environments support a range
of outcomes for people with a learning disability”’ is
for the charity Scope, Communication and Inclusion
Resource Centre
Research and Enterprise
KTPS
COLLECTED HISTORIES:
PERFORMANCE ART IN
NORTHERN IRELAND
T
P
he School has been awarded two Knowledge
Transfer Partnerships (KTPs). KTPs are
UK-wide programmes to encourage
collaboration between academia and business.
Each three-way project is an exchange between an
academic, a business and a recent graduate with
a view to developing new knowledge that can be
applied by the business partner, as well as providing
graduates with the opportunity to work in their
chosen field. Bethan Gordon will lead a classic
KTP with the Window Cleaning Warehouse, which
extends the School’s existing relationship with the
company and Dr John Littlewood will supervise
a short KTP with Morganstone, a company in
South Wales that provides development solutions
for housing associations, public sector bodies, local
authorities and private developers.
rof André Stitt is showing work and
presented at a new exhibition Collected
Histories:” Performance Art in Northern Ireland,
running at the GT Gallery, Belfast, from 13
August to 12 September 2015. The exhibition
looks at performance art and its impact on conflict
transformation in Northern Ireland during and
since the civil conflict known as ‘The Troubles’.
André also gave a keynote presentation on his
research at the Live Art Development Agency in
London in March.
GET STARTED
C
SAD received Cardiff Met Get Started
funding for two projects. The first project,
led by Wendy Keay-Bright and Olivia
Kotisfa, is to work with partners to explore the
creation of an innovation space at the Pontypridd
YMCA. CSAD will host a design charette with
the Muni Arts Centre and Pontypridd YMCA that
will bring together stakeholders from academia
(CARIAD and FabLab), industry, fundraising,
and building management to discuss the space and
come up with creative solutions. The second project,
led by John Counsell, is to develop a network on
the refurbishment of heritage properties between
CSAD’s Architecture department and UK and EU
partners.
Research and Enterprise
Image: work by André Stitt
6
JONATHAN IN THE NEW YORK
TIMES
C
onstellation lecturer and Constable Expert
Jonathan Clarkson recently gave an
interview to the New York Times commenting
on the misattribution of a work by the artist. It was
originally listed and sold by Christies as a work by
a Constable follower. Its new owner took it to a
Constable expert and it was confirmed as a work
by the artist. In his interview, Jonathan described
Constable’s recognizable painting technique: “He
leaves bits of the primed canvas showing through
a finished painting; he leaves these visible brush
strokes; he doesn’t smooth out the tones of his colors
so there’s an even gradation, and at the time people
just thought this was sloppy practice, that it was
because he couldn’t paint better rather than he was
choosing to paint this way.”
JAMES GREEN: SOUTH
AMERICAN TRIP
J
ames Green has received Santander funding to
support a residency at Universidad de Santiago
de Chile this summer. James will be furthering
his research into mask-making and will continue
to develop a Field module for 2015-2016 “Magical
Objects: Masks and Reliquaries of the World”.
BETHAN GORDON - INNOVATION
CONFERENCE
B
ethan Gordon presented at the WMG
Doctoral Research and Innovation Conference,
which took place from 30th June - 1st July.
The theme of the conference was ‘Innovation
through Collaboration’, focussing on research from
both academia and industry. Bethan presented on
work conducted as part of her PhD study and as
an advisor for CSAD’s first Knowledge Transfer
Partnership with the Window Cleaning Warehouse.
7
Work by Dr James Green
Research and Enterprise
PROFESSOR CATHY TREADAWAY: UPDATE
P
rof Cathy Treadaway has continued to work
on the Research & Enterprise Innovation
Fund (REIF) project, Sensor-e Textiles and
launched the new, AHRC-funded project, LAUGH.
Held in early June, the launch included a two-day
programme of events and workshops including
artists, designers, hackers and representatives from
dementia groups and organisations. LAUGH is a
3-year project in collaboration with researchers at
University of Technology Sydney and Birmingham
City University, partnered by Gwalia Cyf and
supported by Age Cymru and the Alzheimer’s
Society.
The Sensor e-Textiles team visited the Gwalia
Mynydd Mawr residential care home in Llanelli,
where they hosted an afternoon Funshop to make
textiles for people with dementia. The event was
a collaboration with Mynydd Mawr and Friends,
bringing together people with dementia, their
families and carers in a practical creative event. Poet
John Killick from Dementia Positive and Dr David
Prytherch from Birmingham City University joined
the team and the information gathered during the
Funshop will be used to inform the development
of innovative textiles to support the wellbeing of
people with dementia. Cathy has also ran a series of
Hand i Pocket training events in conjunction Age
Cymru Retail as part of June’s Gwanwyn Festival
‘celebrating creativity in older age’. The workshops
involved up-cycling textiles and haberdashery to
make sensory textiles for people with dementia.
Research and Enterprise
In addition, Cathy and Dr Gail Kenning (UTS) met
with Sabine Wildevuur and Paulein Mellis from the
Waag Society, Amsterdam, Netherlands to discuss
future research collaboration with the Waag Society
on ageing and dementia and also attended a research
round table discussion at the Social Dimensions
of Health Institute at the University of Dundee,
Scotland. Finally, Cathy presented at the OPAN
Celebratory Event in Swansea in April and at the
EU Commission as part of June’s Textiles for Ageing
Society TAGS Consortium.
Sensor e-Textiles Funshop
8
MEDICAL EDUCATION AND THE
ARTS
INC. SPACE’S LATEST
ACHIEVEMENTS
O
T
n 26 May Illustration’s Chris Glynn
joined a panel discussion with Dr Trevor
Thompson and Dr Catherine LamontRobinson from the Out of Our Heads project based at
the University of Bristol Medical School, at an event
organised as part of the Wales Millennium Centre
and Clod Ensemble’s Performing Medicine season
exploring medicine, healthcare and the arts. The
event focused on what the arts have to offer medical
and health education, how an artistic perspective
on the human body can be useful to healthcare
practitioners and how artists and medics might
collaborate to improve patient care.
PLANETEDU
C
SAD has developed a suite of new courses
with PlanetEdu, a global network of
education providers. Starting in 2015-2016,
the courses will mirror CSAD’s Undergraduate
programmes up to diploma level, with a BA/
BSc International Design programme designed
as a one year top up for the PlanetEdu and other
International Diplomas. It is hoped that the new
scheme will attracted an increased number of
international students to the School.
9
he past few months have been extremely
busy for the current Inc. Space team
members. Product Designer Laura Smith
has been working on a new range of modular,
affordable rabbit and guinea pig houses and
painter Aidan Myers has sold more of his vast
paintings through his London galleries and a piece
bought by CSAD has been hung in the Heart
Space. Ceramicist Kathryn Lewis is expanding
her range of candle sticks and other decorative
items, showcasing her talent for creating interesting
colourful glazes and illustrator Helen Turnbull has
been working on a number of commissioned pieces
as well as having undertaken work at the University
of Wales Hospital with Prof Judith Hall. Fine
Artist and researcher AJ Stockwell has run her first
session for Cardiff Open Art School, is completing
a six month internship with g39 that included
helping organise a symposium. Jenny Cashmore has
recently undertaken a residency at a new arts space
in Bridgend and is about to take up a place on the
National Theatre Wales Summercamp, a 12 day
adventure for theatre makers and artists to explore
ideas, form new collaborations, inspire each other
and create exciting possibilities. The whole Inc.
Space team are therefore on course to launch their
businesses and promote their careers at their final
show in September.
Research and Enterprise
INC. SPACE - MEET THE NEW TEAM
C
SAD was delighted with the interest
in places for the 2015-16 Inc. Space.
16 candidates were interviewed for the
limited number by a selection panel that included
Sarah Thomas from Santander, PJ Statham from
Momentum, a Cardiff designer furniture store, and
Dewi Gray from the Cardiff Met Centre for Student
Entrepreneurship.
The new team members who will be taking up their
places in September are:• Sophie Adams, an Artist Designer: Maker graduate
who will be launching Little Room Press to produce
bespoke handmade blank books and artists books.
• Alexana Blott, an Artist Designer: Maker graduate
who makes sculptures from cutlery.
• Rhiannon Crowley, a ceramic textile artist and
jewellery designer who will be launching Rhiannon
Lewando.
• Alice Elliott, an Artist Designer: Maker graduate
and home décor and decorative lighting designer
who will be launching Flux Lux.
• Sarah Jenkins, an Artist Designer: Maker graduate
and furniture designer.
• MA graduate and ceramic artist Kate Haywood.
• Chrisoula Konstantakou who has just launched
C(K)eramics and will be developing her line of
functional tableware and art pieces.
• Ceramicist Kate Miller who will be launching a
range of ceramic tableware and who is also very
interested in promoting locally made arts, crafts and
design pieces.
• Anna Palamar, a Textiles graduate who is
launching her own range of wallpaper, textiles, soft
furnishing and a bespoke design service.
• Rebecca Thomas, an Illustration graduate who
will work as a freelance illustrator and explore the
Research and Enterprise
possibility of running workshops and creating a
shared studio space for other artists and designers.
• Laura Welsman, a 2014 Fine Art graduate who will
focus on making large paintings as part of immersive
installations.
• Ceramicist Katie Weyman, who will shortly to
complete her Masters programme
CSAD is very grateful to the Fenton Arts Trust for
providing bursaries to cover the full Incubation Unit
fees for five of the new team members - Sophie
Adams, Rhiannon Crowley, Alice Elliott, Laura
Welsman and Katie Weyman - and to Santander
for providing the full fee bursary for Anna Palamar.
The School is also delighted that the team will
include graduates from the past two years as well as
newly graduating BA and Masters students and to
the current Inc. Space team for providing this year’s
applicants with so much encouragement.
Image: Kate Haywood,
MA Ceramics
10
RESEARCH STUDENTS
Sarah Younan at EVA
Research student Sarah Younan presented at July’s
Electronic Visualisation and The Arts conference. The event
was aimed at researchers working with emerging
technologies and provides networking opportunities
for practitioners in this field. Sarah presented on the
research conducted as part of her PhD programme,
which will be followed by another presentation in
October 2015, this time at the CHArt Conference,
London.
Ludic Activities:
Steve Coleman attended the Care Home Managers
Meeting of project partners Gwalia in March 2015.
The opportunity was used to give an in-depth
explanation of his Ludic Activities project which
looks at designing creative strategies to support the
subjective wellbeing of older people with dementia
in residential care. The presentation focused on
using Probes as a design-led research method to
generate insights into the types of creative activity
that could be employed by care staff to support the
wellbeing of residents living with dementia. The
proposed methods received the full support of the
care home managers, who welcomed the project and
have asked for further presentations to be delivered
as the project develops.
Paul Marais
Professional Doctorate Student, Paul Marais
will present his first conference paper at the 7th
International Sustainability and Energy in Buildings
Conference (SEB15), Lisbon. Co-authored with his
supervisory team, the paper, “The use of polymer
stabilised earth foundations for rammed earth
construction” documents the case studies from his
professional change research project.
11
Research and Enterprise
O
ne of the key benefits of a university
education is that students are
immersed in a learning environment
informed by cutting edge research
and enterprise opportunities. CSAD is
determined to ensure that our students
benefit from the School’s research
and enterprise excellence in both the
richness of their education and in their
career prospects. With so many activities
taking place across the board, in this
issue of the newsletter, we are focussing
on some of the exciting opportunities
our Illustration and Ceramics students
have taken advantage of.
AN ILLUSTRATION OF TEACHING
EXCELLENCE
C
ongratulations to Amelia Johnstone, one
of five Cardiff Met staff to be awarded
a Fellowship for Teaching Excellence.
The Fellowships invite students to nominate staff
for the awards, and Amelia’s success follows on
the heels of fellow Illustration Lecturer, Anna
Bhushan’s successful nomination in 2014-2015.
Amelia received her award at this year’s graduation
ceremony, and a publication containing examples of
best practice from all five winners will be available
soon.
Work (right) by Pete Evans
Research and Enterprise in Teaching
12
WORK EXPERIENCE
PERFORMING MEDICINE
ILLUSTRATION
A
C
fter the initial buzz of completing the Work
Experience Field Project, two illustration
students reflect on their placements
and what they learnt whilst working for different
organisation.
Maelle Chevallier, who spent the duration of her
placement with A&O Studios said: “I can now fully
appreciate the impact they had on my work and
my way of approaching my discipline. The Work
Experience module made me realise I can take
my practice and thinking to other fields, such as
production and animation, but also pushed me to be
more ambitious about the projects I engage in”.
Sophie Holbeche took a different approach and
spent time with three different organisations –
MaterialMaterial, a small design, gallery and
bookstore, Arena Illustration, an illustration agency
and ShowMedia, a magazine company: “I’m really
grateful for the experiences I gained from work
experience, I have met a great deal of interesting
people from different creative areas. It was wonderful
to be able to see different designers and artists work,
be able to talk and also hear them talk about their
work, gain advice and think about how I can relate
my practice to different ways of working.”
SAD Illustration students and staff
have again been involved in the Wales
Millennium Centre/Clod Ensemble
Performing Medicine season, in association with
Cardiff University’s Cardiff School of Medicine.
They illustrated “Inside Information: Heart”, which
took place on 21 May at the University Hospital
of Wales, and explored the anatomy of the heart,
though a simulated demonstration of a medical
emergency and a dancer’s perspective on this most
celebrated part of the human body.
BEHIND THE DOOR
I
nvited by 2014 graduate Mary James, a group
of Illustration students have been responding
to Duffryn House and gardens. When the
National Trust took over the property in 2013,
available knowledge of its history was full of gaps.
Over the last two years they have begun to discover
fragments and snippets, from newspaper articles,
auction and photographs. CSAD’s students were
invited to interpret these stories illustratively,
and the resulting works ranged from large scale
drawings of the house interior by Laura Selbie, to
embroidery and paper cutting. Leanne Burnell’s
peephole 3D collages played with restricted
perspectives, while Emma Harry’s installation of
coal and drawings drew attention to the physical
matter and labour involved in building the Cory
family’s fortune. Other students taking part in the
project included Ayu Baker, Yomna Khalil, Katie
Harris, Rhiannon Parnis, Georgia Pearson and
Louise Thomas.
Mary James won a residence opportunity with the
National Trust at Duffryn in 2014 and has since
been employed at the site as an Education Assistant.
13
Research and Enterprise in Teaching
‘THE SENSORIAL OBJECT’
STUDENT PERSPECTIVE
C
eramics students Charles Conreur, Chloe
Monks, Anne Frost, Ellie Cooper and
Tsz Ying Fung worked with Dr Natasha
Mayo and Zoe Preece for a feature in the Wales Arts
Review. Working with co-curators Natasha and Zoe,
the students shared their reflections and experiences
of the Sensorial Object exhibition held at Craft in
the Bay during January 2015. The full article is
available here.
FRAGILE? WITH NATASHA MAYO
T
he exhibition Fragile? at the National
Museum, Wales, has provided a rich
opportunity for Dr. Natasha Mayo to
extend research into the ‘Exhibition as a Site of
Debate’. Building on the exhibition’s aim of raising
dialogues between historical and contemporary
ceramics, Natasha’s collaboration with museum
applied arts staff, CSAD graduate, Heloise Godfrey
and Inc Space’s AJ Stockwell, seeks to find ways to
reposition methods of ‘in conversation’ to uncover
previously silent encounters between objects.
As part of establishing the approach for this
research, level 5 ceramics students witnessed the
initial negotiation of the interaction between works
through privileged access to the selection of pieces
and their eventual curation. Work Experience also
enabled them to discuss the exhibition with the
museum’s designers, curators and conservators, as
well as the artists themselves. The phenomenon of
conversations arising between artworks has since
informed students devising their own workshops,
specifically drawing visitor’s attention to interactions
between historic and contemporary narratives. It is
also offered invaluable insight to their training and
practice as tour guides for Fragile?, giving them an
approach from which to discuss the material, skill
and meaning behind the exhibition.
CREATIVE CAREERS DAY
S
taff and students took part in the National
Museum Wales’ Creative Industries Careers Day
in May. Ceramics students demonstrated
throwing on a potters’ wheel and alongside Dr
Natasha Mayo, talked to visitors about life as a
student at CSAD. Illustration lecturer Chris Glynn
joined a panel of experienced professionals from
across the Creative Industries to answer visitors
questions with fellow panel members including
photographer Chalkie Davies whose show is
currently on at the Museum, record producer
Charlie Francis, Emma Geliot, editor of the CCQ
Magazine, Helen Sear, Professor of Photography
University South Wales who is currently
representing Wales at the Venice Biennale, music
promoter Dai Davies and musician Dan Bettridge.
Image: Charlotte Burke
Research and Enterprise in Teaching
14
CERAMICS STUDENTS MINGLE
WITH MOVERS AND SHAKERS
T
he Ceramics department in conjunction
with the Centre for Student
Entrepreneurship at CSAD held a Mingle
event on Wednesday 25 March, inviting fifteen
movers and shakers from the Ceramics and wider
Arts community in Wales to share their knowledge
and experience with our Ceramics students. The
students were left brimming full of inspiration,
contacts and initiatives and the event offered an
excellent opportunity to develop professional
practice skills. A follow up will being planned for
2015-2016.
15
Research and Enterprise in Teaching
SUMMER SHOW
T
his year’s CSAD Summer Show has been
one made up of many firsts. It was the first
to take place in the School’s new, awardwinning building, with visitors providing positive
feedback about being able to see work from all
subjects in one venue for the first time. The benefits
of new curriculum, which gives students more
opportunity than ever to work across disciplines
also shone through the work of many. The show
was also the first to be significantly student-led as
an exhibition module was incorporated into the
new curriculum, giving the final-year students
experience presenting and promoting their work
and gaining valuable organisational skills. Needless
to say that many students were delighted to discover
they had achieved First Class honours degrees too.
Engagement
For the first time, a Friday night industry focused
private view attracted many visitors and events
organised by the Alumni team attracted twice the
number of alumni visiting the show. CSAD was
also delighted to welcome many school students
to the Summer Show including groups from Porth
Comprehensive, The Willows High School in
Cardiff and The Cathedral School in Llandaff,
whose students then spend an afternoon in the
FabLab and in the drawing room creating images
based on the School skeleton.
Made in Cardiff TV’s What’s Occurrin’ show was
presented from the exhibition on Thursday 4 June,
so if you missed the exhibition you can see highlights
from it on their website along with interviews from
Prof Gaynor Kavanagh and some of the third year
students.
16
THE ORIGINS OF THE SCHOOL
OF ART AND DESIGN
CSAD SCOOPS PRESTIGIOUS
WELSH ARCHITECTURE AWARD
P
C
rofessor Gaynor Kavanagh delivered a
lecture on the Origins of the School of Art
and Design as part of the official opening
ceremony for the new School on 4th June. From
the 1830s into the 1880s, successive Governments
funded the establishment of art schools throughout
the UK and steered their subsequent development.
The purpose of this long-term initiative was
unequivocal: to compete successfully, especially
with the French, Britain needed to manufacture
and trade in first-rate products, which could only be
achieved through the application of first rate-design
and artisan skills. In November 1865, Cardiff
Council elected to join with the national scheme
and set up an art school. Cardiff’s Art School began
its classes in January 1866, in a large room off St
Mary’s Street that already contained the Council’s
library and burgeoning museum collection. Just
over a hundred years later, the Cardiff Met, as we
now know it, began to take shape.
17
SAD’s new building has been honoured by
the Royal Society of Architects in Wales,
the benchmark in identifying the best new
architecture in Wales. Receiving one of just five
awards, the £14 million building was designed
by architects Austin-Smith:Lord and features
permanent artworks by renowned sculptor Gideon
Petersen and emerging painter and CSAD graduate
Aidan Myers. In the fitting-out and furnishing of
the accommodation, the project team drew upon
the design expertise within the School. This enabled
exciting choices in the use of finishing materials as
well as furnishing. Professor Gaynor Kavanagh,
Dean of CSAD said “Everyone involved in the build
is absolutely delighted to have won this award; it is
well-deserved recognition for a truly outstanding
building that provides a home for our students and
staff. The project team, in which we were active
participants, achieved a level of understanding
and shared ambition that particularly enabled the
delivery of this amazing facility.”
Engagement
POST-WAR TO POST-MODERN:
A DICTIONARY OF ARTISTS IN
WALES
‘KILLING TIME’
A
D
‘TO THIS I PUT MY NAME’ ON
TOUR
A VISIT FROM TILLEKE
new publication from Gomer Press features
many current and former academic staff
from Cardiff School of Art & Design. The
book also features many CSAD graduates who have
become successful artists. Post-War to Post-Modern:
A Dictionary of Artists in Wales is a major academic
reference work covering a rich period in the arts in
Wales. It is the first illustrated survey, in Welsh and
English editions, of the careers of artists and applied
artists in Wales over the last sixty years.
A
fter the success of Claire Curneen’s touring
exhibition To this I put my name, has now
continued onto Switzerland with its
opening at Galerie Kunstforum Solothurn in April.
Curneen’s figures are inspired by myth and legend,
drawing upon religious iconography and her study
of art history at the National Museum of Ireland.
Angels and saints are decorated with rich glazes or
deep smudges of inky colour, reminiscent perhaps
of fine porcelain whilst others are left unglazed and
unadorned like reimagined figures from Ancient
Greek vases.
Engagement
r Keireine Canavan and Prof Cathy
Treadaway took part in the performance
of ‘Killing Time’ at Wales Millennium
Centre on Saturday 16 May, led by contemporary
composer Jobina Tinnemans. The event was
supported by Age Cymru and was part of the
Gwanwyn Festival. The interactive performance
involved knitting on long white knitted ‘scores’
containing embedded sensors to help create a
musical soundscape of the Pembrokeshire coast.
I
nternationally recognised Dutch textile artist,
Tilleke Schwarz, visited CSAD recently to
deliver a talk to students about her exhibition
at Craft in the Bay. Tilleke’s embroideries show
a mixture of contemporary influences including
graffiti, icons, text and traditional imagery with a
narrative element in her design.
NSFW（^人^）
S
pike Dennis has recently exhibited a
collection of hand embroidered objects and
short films at The Show Gallery, Cardiff.
The body of work critiqued attitudes towards sex,
identity, morals and privacy in our increasingly
digitally inter-connected society. Subverting
commonly held assumptions that embroidery is an
activity reserved for women, Spike revealed the
phallocentric language of sex through stitch. In
his work familiar digital pixels were replaced with
pixelated cross-stitches, exposing the aggressive
and often harassing nature of the way in which
messages and images are often distributed across
our multifarious wi-fi’d networks.
18
BA GRAPHICS STUDENT
SHORTLISTED FOR PENGUIN
DESIGN AWARD
VOLUNTEERING AND
INTERNSHIPS EVENT
C
C
ongratulations to BA Graphic
Communication student Toby Hartwell
who has been shortlisted in two categories
in this year’s Penguin Design Awards. Toby has
been shortlisted in the ‘Adult Fiction’ and ‘Adult
Non-Fiction’ categories. Good luck Toby!
Work (below) by Toby Hartwell
19
SAD’s students from all years packed out a
talk given by Arts & Business Cymru and
representatives of other creative industry
organisations about the benefits of volunteering,
work experience and paid internships. Art &
Business Cymru and Ffotogallery’s Diffusion, Cardiff
International Festival of Photography are hoping to
recruit a number of paid interns and the National
Museum Wales, Chapter Arts Centre, Made
in Roath, and Criw Celf (part of Arts Active at
Cardiff Council) are all looking for volunteers and
work placement candidates. The speakers stressed
the importance of gaining industry contacts and
practical work experiences for students to add to
their CV, along with the benefits of stepping outside
their comfort zones to gain new skills and discover
opportunities that they might not have come across
otherwise.
Student & Graduate Focus
‘HAND HELD: HAND MADE’
S
econd Year Artist Designer: Maker students
displayed a series of medals at Craft in the
Bay from 20 March - 10 May 2015. The work
displayed the combination of traditional skills and
the use of new technologies, which makes the Artist
Designer: Maker course so unique and exciting.
Bridging the gap between traditional skills and new
technologies, students work in a myriad of ways,
including producing work for batch production,
bespoke one-off pieces or manufacture.
AUSTIN-SMITH: LORD DESIGN
AWARD
materials and Product Designer, Adam Davies for his
elegant ceramic speakers manifesting an enthusiasm
to push course boundaries and explore alternative
materials and approaches. Rachel Codd was selected
as the overall winner for her beautiful ceramic
jewellery. The judges felt that there was a sense of
‘completeness’ and consistency of design integrity
and vision in this work from inception, through
design and creation to presentation.
Image (below) L-R: Kerry Clements, Richard Morris,
CSAD’s Associate Dean: Enterprise, Adam Davies, Martin
Roe, Austin-Smith: Lord, Rachel Codd.
T
he School was delighted that architects
of the CSAD and Cardiff School of
Management buildings have inaugurated
the annual Austin-Smith: Lord Design Award.
Staff from the Architects’ firm will select work from
each year’s Summer Show, with this year’s judging
panel including Martin Roe, Partner and Cardiff
Studio Principal, Tim Young, Associate and Lead
Architect for the CSAD project, and Kate Smith,
Head of Interior Design. The panel were hugely
impressed by the quality of work on display and
welcomed the input of the course leaders to help
them to focus their concentration in the extremely
difficult task of selecting a winner.
Choosing an overall winner was very challenging
given the high standard of work and so the judges
selected two students for Highly Commended
certificates - Artist Designer: Maker, Kerry
Clements for her striking furniture which integrates
an innovative mix of natural and manufactured
Student & Graduate Focus
20
SO MANY GENEROUS
SUPPORTERS
SPONSORED BY SHAPEWAYS
T
A
he School is lucky to receive very generous
support from many others who give prizes
to its students each year including: the
Alan Barrett Danes Memorial Award for technical
achievement in Ceramics; the Capita Prizes for best
Architectural Design and Technology projects; the
Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists
(CIAT) Award for an outstanding graduating
student; the Dulcie Mayne Stephens Art Trust
Awards for artistic achievement in Fine Art; the Evan
& Felicity Charlton Awards Travel Award for Fine
Art; the Helen Gregory Memorial Trust Purchase
Prize; the Lavinia Bletchley Award recognises
the most improved practice in Textiles; the Ria
Blakeman Memorial Award for Textiles recognises
the best technical improvement in Textiles; the
Semaphore Award for Innovation in Illustration; the
Zenith Media Award in Graphic Communication
for Outstanding Studio Practice; Regina Lasker
Award recognises artistic achievement in Ceramics;
and the Ede & Ravenscroft Achievement Award is
made for made to the highest achieving student in
their year across the School of Art & Design 2014-15.
Finally, the Welsh Government also select work each
year to be exhibited in the First Minister’s office.
Congratulations to all this year’s award winners!
21
rtist Designer: Maker student, Matthew
Bush, has been sponsored by Shapeways,
a 3D printing service and market place.
Matthew’s work combines complex 3D printed
fractal pieces with fine china pieces to form
elegant bowls that demonstrate how cutting-edge
technology can merge with our everyday objects.
The sponsorship included printing services and
the display of Matthew’s work on the Shapeways’
website.
Work (below) by Matthew Bush
Student & Graduate Focus
CAPTURING THE SPIRIT OF CSAD
T
his year CSAD has been lucky to benefit
from two of the BA Photographic Practice
Level 4 students based at Bridgend
College’s Arts Academy in Cardiff City Centre who
chose to spend much of their time at the Llandaff
Campus. Ian Clark and Tony Charles used the
School as the inspiration for several of their modules
and captured hundreds of shots reflecting the spirit
of the School and its creative community. The
images are being used on the School website and
in the forthcoming prospectus. Ian and Tony also
helped the Textiles students with shots for their
publicity materials and press packs for the Summer
Show.
CHEMICAL WEDDING AT
CARDIFF MADE
T
wo very different artists currently studying
on the MFA programme have just had
a joint exhibition at Cardiff MADE in
Roath. Aiming to reconcile their own positions
to a contemporary culture within a historical
perspective, Californian Taylor Zepeda mixed
pop culture references and trashy materials
with the natural and mystical, in particular the
transformative properties of the philosopher’s stone.
Pip Barrett’s paintings and drawings formed a
collective statement, a visceral response to how she
feels the media places its demands upon her as a
young woman.
Student & Graduate Focus
MOTHERS OF AFRICA QUILT
1
st year Textiles students have made a beautiful
quilt for Mothers of Africa, which they raffled
to raise funds to rebuild a run down community
school in Shiyala, Zambia. The quilt went on
display in the Heart Space, CSAD, along with work
from Maggie Cullinane and Sue Hunt’s and own
collaborations with Mothers of Africa. Packs of
cards featuring designs from the quilt and sun prints
created by Sue in Shiyala last year also went on sale
to raise money for the charity.
FIRST AND SECOND YEAR
EXHIBITIONS
F
or the first time, all CSAD first and second
year students held their own exhibitions at
the end of the summer term. Taking over
the degree show space to exhibit the work they
have produced over the past year, the student-led
exhibitions formed part of their assessment. The
shows, which were open to friends and family, were
a great opportunity to view the work of our current
undergraduate students.
22
UNDERGRADUATE
• HNC Building Technology and Management
(Ystrad Mynach)
• BSc (Hons) Architectural Design & Technology
• BA (Hons) Artist Designer: Maker
• BA (Hons) Fine Art
• BA (Hons) Ceramics
• BA (Hons) Textiles
• BA (Hons) Graphic Communication
• BA (Hons) Illustration
• BA (Hons) Product Design
• BSc (Hons) Product Design
• BA (Hons) Photographic Practice (Bridgend
TAUGHT POSTGRADUATE
• Master of Fine Art (MFA)
• Master of Design (MDes)
• Master of Design (MDes) SADI
• MA (Cardiff School of Art & Design) Specialist
Pathways only:
• Art & Science
• Philosophy
• Ecologies
• Death and Visual Culture
• Design Futures
• Postgraduate Certificate in Research Skills: Art &
Design
• MA Ceramics
• MSc Advanced Product Design
23
RESEARCH DEGREES
• MPhil
• PhD
• Professional Doctorate in Art
• Professional Doctorate in Design
• Professional Doctorate in Ecological Building
Practices
FOUNDATION
• Cardiff Diploma in Foundation Studies (Art &
Design) (Bridgend) - allied programme only
• Foundation Degree in Applied Art & Design
(Bridgend)
• Foundation Degree in Ceramics (Cardiff and The
Vale College)
• Foundation Degree in Contemporary Textiles
Practice (Cardiff and The Vale College)
• Foundation Degree in Graphic Communication
(Cardiff and The Vale College)
www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/csad
Cardiff School of Art & Design,
Llandaff Campus,
Western Avenue,
Cardiff,
CF5 2YB
+44 (0)29 2020 5898